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June 1, 2022 · 42 min · The 7 Basics
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Beth Jones is a Bible teacher and founder of The Basics With Beth, a non-profit Christian teaching ministry dedicated to helping people learn the Bible basics.
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The Simplicity and Joy of God's Word 0:00 So we are in a series called the 7 basics and we're gonna talk about basic number 2 today. But how many of you have been with us at least for 1 of these so far? Great. Okay. Very good. We're talking about basic things.0:10 You know, who knows? The Bible says there's simplicity in Christ. And I love it that God doesn't make things complicated. I love that he's leveled the playing field for every person. Doesn't matter your educational0:21 background, your social background, your economic background. There is simplicity, there is basic information, basic revelation in Christ. And so that's what we're gonna get into.0:33 And as you guys know, we're passionate about the basics around here because we've seen what God does in a person's life when their roots are deep, when their foundation is strong. God can build something quite large in0:44 your life and upon that foundation as we really, really strengthen the basics. So that's our premise. Let's pray and we'll get into it, okay? Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for the Holy0:55 Spirit. He's our teacher. He's our revealer. He's our helper. Lord, thank you that you've made it simple. It is very deep. It's loaded with revelation. There are layers upon layers of1:06 truth. And yet at the very same time, you've made it simple and basic for us to get it. And so we ask you to help us today, Lord, get a hold of basic number 2, get into the1:18 word. We thank you for revelation and connecting the dots in Jesus' name. And everybody that agreed said, amen. Colossians 1 29 has been our text and this is from the message bible. I love1:30 how this reads. It says, we teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic.1:42 Christ, no more, no less. You know how mature you are by how established in the basics you are. And every teacher knows that, every teacher who's ever taught a kid phonics1:54 knows the importance of that for their foundation. Every builder knows that, that you can't have a great structure, a great facility unless you spend a lot of time laying a good foundation. We built this building, you2:06 know, when they were moving the dirt and pouring the concrete for the place where you guys are seated in the stadium, when they poured all of this, it wasn't the most exciting part of the project. This is when they're2:17 putting conduit in and electrical stuff and plumbing. It's not the most exciting thing. In fact, sometimes it looked like not much was happening. But the truth was, a lot was happening. Critical2:28 pieces were going into place because the whole rest of the building wouldn't go up properly and be able to function the way God intended this place to function without a great foundation. Same thing is true for us2:39 spiritually. Every athlete knows it. Every coach will tell you. You know, Vince Lombardi, what did he say to his players? This is a football. And took them back to the basics every single time because2:51 it's what we build on. And so that's what this verse says. To be mature is to be basic. Christ, no more, no less. So basic number 2 is getting into the word, getting into the Bible.3:03 And so let's look at a passage and we'll talk about this from a couple of angles. Jeremiah 15 16, if you guys wanna turn there. Jeremiah 15 16. Here's what he3:15 said. He said, your words were found and I ate them. And your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, oh God, oh3:27 Lord, God of hosts. So there's sort of 2 parts in this passage that we're gonna look at. Part a, he said your words were found and I ate them. So we'll take a couple of minutes, we'll talk about that.3:39 And then the second part, he said your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. And that's what I hope you guys leave with today. If you leave today and you're more excited about3:51 reading your Bible, you're more excited about spending time with God and getting into the word so that you can experience the joy and the rejoicing of his word, then it's mission accomplished. That'll be mission4:03 accomplished. Because, you know, for some people, and at different seasons in our Christian life, it hits us differently. But for some people, reading the bible isn't a joy. For some people, it's a drudgery. For some4:14 people, it's a duty. For some people, it's non existent. But for a lot of Christians, it's not a joy and it's not a rejoicing. It's not like they get excited and get an anticipation to go read4:25 their Bible. It's often more like, Oh, I know, I'm supposed to read my Bible. Okay, God, I'll punch in. I'll read a couple of verses, I'll fall asleep, I'll punch out and we'll call it4:37 good. I hope you marked my attendance in heaven. I read the Bible today. And that, how many of you know that's not God's plan? There is a joy and a rejoicing. Listen, this Christian life is a faith adventure. And so I4:49 believe that that's what God's wanting us to get this basic about getting into his word so it's fun, it's exciting, you actually look forward to it, you actually want to get up early in the morning, you want to stay up4:59 late at night, you want to take your lunch hour and get into the bible and have God Almighty speak to you. So that's part a and part b. Let's go to part a then. Your words5:11 were found and I ate them. So God's word, you know, it contains his promises, things you can take him at his word, he's promised. It contains his instructions, his commandments,5:24 direction, wisdom. I mean, all kinds of things are in the Bible. But the but the secret to experiencing it personally is you have to find it. You have to find the Bible. You have to have a Bible. You have to get a5:35 Bible. So let's talk about some really practical things there. Your words were found. How many of you have your bible nowadays on your iPhone or your iPad? Me too. I have several5:47 versions. How many of you still have a paper bible? Yay. Okay. So, what about that? Because back in the day, all we had was the paper bible, right?5:59 All we had was this. And some of you that are our age and a little bit younger, who remembers, you know, you would read your bible and you get out your highlighter and you'd highlight these verses in different colors and6:09 you take your pen and you put a date and how this verse spoke to you or God was revealing something to you and you'd mark your Bible up. You'd sit in a service and you'd put little notes in the margin of your6:20 bible and so then this document was like burned into the memory of your mind and you knew there was a certain thing you were going through and you're like, oh, where's that 1 verse? Oh, I know where it is. It's like,6:31 it's thickness wise. It's like like right about here and it was in the right hand column up at the top. You sort of knew like you could probably find it again because you sort of knew where it was and we began6:43 to have the bible almost like mapped into our brain just by looking at it. But then these apps came along, which I love because it does make them so convenient to have the Bible with you at all times and to look things6:54 up. But who knows with an app, you turn it on and you're just scrolling. And so you visually, it's hard to know where is that verse. I was just doing this. I was scrolling7:06 through and the scroll bar at the bottom was I don't know where it was. So we're having a difficult time. It's interesting this season we're in with all this great technology, we're having a difficult time. There's a7:16 whole generation of people that are being raised now biblically illiterate. Their mind isn't mapped to the word. They don't have those memories of like where it was in the Bible. And7:28 thank God for technology, but here's my recommendation. My recommendation is everybody needs a good old fashioned paper Bible. And all the people said, get a paper Bible. If you don't have 1, go get7:40 1. I mean, even for me, I've always had a paper Bible. I love it. But I thought, I'll switch. I'll switch over and let this be my Bible. Do you know the problem? I've got too many on my phone. So, I don't know which 1 is7:51 my Bible because I like them all and I read them all, but it's like, you gotta have your Bible. So, get a paper bible. You say, what version? There's a lot of versions out there. But I would8:03 recommend a couple for you if you're looking for a new bible to get get into, you know, some of this afresh. The new King James is great. It's very much like the King James, but it's just written in a little bit easier,8:15 wordage to to understand. So the new King James is great. The new living translation, I highly recommend that 1. I like to read that 1. It actually is a translation, but it's written in modern language and it's8:27 pretty easy to understand. The New Living Translation. A translation as opposed to a paraphrase. Who's ever heard of the Message Bible? Or the Living Bible? Okay. Those are great Bibles, but those8:39 are paraphrased Bibles. Those are Bibles that sort of the authors of that paraphrase what they thought those scriptures meant. Whereas, a translation is accurate. It's more accurate. It's a8:51 translation of the original Greek and Hebrew. So the New Living Translation Bible or the NIV, New International Version. If you're going to get a new paper Bible, I would highly recommend 19:03 of those 3. There's others, but those are the 3 I would recommend. Now, for a Bible app, if you don't have any apps yet on your phone, I'll give you a couple that you might want to look into. 1 is called YouVersion. Lots9:15 of versions of the bible to read. They've got devotionals and things, so the YouVersion. Another 1 is called the Blue Letter Bible. That's my favorite, the Blue Letter Bible. Another 1 is called, if you wanna listen to9:26 the bible audibly, it's bible. Is. Another 1 is What's another 1? 0, Olive Tree is another good 1 too. I mean, there's several, but you'll get a couple of9:37 apps and so he says your words were found. So the way that God's word can even become relevant to you is you got to have a Bible, number 1. Number 2, he says once you've got the Bible, you got to eat it. Your words are9:49 found and I ate them. So let's talk about eating. Because when it comes to our eating habits, just as humans, who eat food, the way that our appetite for10:00 things, we all go through seasons in life where our appetite fluctuates. And I think this is an encouraging thing to hear sometimes because it will help you understand what God is trying to do in your life, in different10:12 seasons of your life. You know, when you are a newborn baby, like I'm talking a human baby born, a newborn baby is born, they are born with an appetite to eat. And they have instincts and reflexes to eat and a baby10:24 just eats a little bit every couple of ounces, every couple of hours. And eventually, they grow and they can take in more, and eventually, they get to cereal, And eventually, they get to solid foods and10:35 eventually, now they're in kindergarten and elementary and they're eating real food and there's a certain appetite. And when kids are in a growing spurt, especially teenage boys, who's noticed when kids are in a growing10:47 spurt, you can tell because they're so hungry. It's hard to fill up a teenage boy's, you think he's got an empty leg or something. Like, how many Whoppers can you eat? So, but that's10:59 because there's a growth season going on and that's awesome. And then as you get older, some of us have gotten a little older, now we're trying to go easy. Some of our eating habits and we're trying11:10 to be healthier in our eating habits. Right? And more nutritious and all of those kinds of things. There's a lot of parallels in our spiritual walk. If you're a baby Christian, you're new to all this,11:22 then it's very possible that you're just like a newborn baby, you've got lots of questions. And some of this goes over your head and you can only take in a couple of ounces at a time. And then you'd be like, but what11:33 about this? And what does the Bible mean when it says this? And that's great, that's awesome. Just just drink 2 ounces at a time and let God continue to feed you. As you're growing, if you're in growing seasons or11:45 you're training, people that are training for things, they eat differently. When you're growing, you're in a season of real growth and God's trying to work something in you and he's training you for some stuff, then11:56 there's gonna be a different appetite for the word. Some of you are in a season, you can't get enough of the bible. And that's a good sign. That's awesome. I mean, theoretically, it should be like that for all of us all12:06 the time. But in reality, there are seasons where God is wanting to accelerate your growth and he's training you and he's equipping you for the things he has for your life. And when you're hungry, what do you12:18 do? You eat. You're supposed to eat. Now, what happens sometimes in the natural and also spiritually, and you gotta be wise to this, what happens sometimes is people get spiritual eating12:29 disorders. In the natural, we've heard of different ones. We've heard of anorexia, right? A person who is anorexic is a person who doesn't eat. And the reason they don't eat is they look12:41 in the mirror and they think they are fat. All their family and friends will say to them, no, you're a rail. You're skin and bones, you've got to eat. And they'll look in the mirror and they'll think they're fat.12:53 Spiritually, that can happen and you got to be wise to it. Some of you that have been walking with the Lord for a little while, you gotta be wise to this 1. Because you might think, from an angle of spiritual pride, you13:05 might think, I'm fat, I'm spiritually fat. I got this. But the truth is, you're not eating. You're not spending time with God and his word, so you think you're fat spiritually, but everybody else13:17 looks at you and goes, there's nothing there. You're a rail spiritually. Don't be a spiritual anorexic. Another 1 is a bulimic. A bulimic in the natural is a person who does eat. You're13:28 having lunch with them, they're eating. But what you don't know is that they go to the bathroom and they throw it all up. And spiritually, you gotta be wise to this because you have got to let the food get in13:40 your system and digest. You've gotta let God, the Holy Spirit, take those nutrients out of the word and work it into your life and so you gotta be careful that you don't allow a critical spirit13:52 or a judgmental spirit or a negative spirit get on you and that you hear the word and you're sitting in church and all that kind of stuff, but you hear it and then as soon as14:04 you leave church, you get in the car and vomit it all up through critical comments or negativity or you're critical of the church in general, not our church, I'm just saying the church. You're critical of Christians, of14:16 Christianity, of the Bible, of other kinds of churches. You just gotta be careful about that. That's been a spiritual bulimic. Just eat the word and let God digest it in you and grow you up in Christ.14:28 Another disorder is a person who just likes junk food. A junk food junkie, potato chips, candy, cotton candy, caramel corn, carameled apples, freeze pops,14:42 ice cream. I mean, that's all they want to eat is just all that sweet stuff. And you know, spiritually sometimes, we can be like that. Spiritually, we just want all the bless me, bless me verses. And there's a lot14:54 of them and thank God he is a good God. But sometimes if you're not careful, people don't wanna, they don't wanna read the broccoli verses. Right? I don't want the broccoli15:05 verses, I just want the ice cream verses. I don't want the verses where God tells me to do something that I don't want to do. I just want the verses that says God blesses me. Well, that's being a junk food junkie. That's15:16 not healthy. What are we talking about? I found your word and I ate it. Final spiritual disorder, spiritual eating disorder is high protein diet, Atkins diet, if you15:28 will. High protein, low carb, you know, people that are in certain seasons of life will go that route, and it's okay for a season. But you gotta be careful that you don't live like that long term because if all you do is15:39 eat protein and no carbs and no fat, you're going to be unhealthy. Same thing is true spiritually. If all you feed on is 1 topic, you're a 1 trick pony. All you feed on is the end times,15:51 or creation or evolution, old world, new world. If you feed on faith only, if you feed on gifts of the spirit only, if you feed on suffering only, if you16:03 feed on God's goodness only, if you just stay in 1 track, then you're gonna be unbalanced because the bible is loaded with all kinds of topics for every16:15 area of life. And all the people said. Amen. So what are we talking about? I found your word and I ate it. So that's part a. Look at your neighbor and say, get a Bible16:28 and read it. Look at your other neighbor and say, get a Bible and read it. Okay. Now, when you read the Bible, let's talk about that. Let's talk about how you get to the place where reading the16:40 Bible becomes a joy and a rejoicing to your heart. How do you get there? You have to know going in, you have to know that God is not into works. He is not into16:51 you just reading it for no purpose. Psalm 1 says, blessed is the man who does not sit in the seat of the scornful. Doesn't hang around with people that have that attitude. Sit in the seat of the scornful, hangs out17:03 with mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, God's word. And on his law, he meditates day and night. That's the guy that's like the tree planted by the water who17:15 produces fruit, has the blessed life, all the things we're talking about. So you have to know going into this that God wants you in his word because ultimately, he want he does want your life blessed to be a blessing.17:27 So then how do you, in a practical way, how do you read it so that it becomes this exciting joy filled thing? This faith adventure really gets exciting for you. We're gonna look at it from17:39 2 angles, the general reading of the bible and then the specific, okay? So if you got your Bibles out, then go ahead to John 14 23. John 14 23, Jesus said17:51 this. He said, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him. So Jesus said, look, if you love me,18:03 keep my word. So this verse, this is a great passage. It's an experiential passage. Can you see it? Jesus said, man, whoever loves me keeps my word. You know, sometimes people say, I love the Lord, I love the18:14 Lord. But they're not keeping his word. Loving the Lord is more than just coming to church and singing some songs. And all the people said. Amen. How do you know if you love the Lord? You keep his18:26 word. And he said, look, those that do that, I want you to have an experience with me. I want this to be real to you. My father will love you. Well, my father already loves you, but he will love you experientially. It'll18:37 be a tangible experience for you. He will love you and we will come to him and make our home with him. Well, Jesus already lives in your heart, but you may not be experiencing the18:49 joy of that. The way to experience it is by this scripture Jesus said, keep my word. Okay, now, the word, word there in that passage is the Greek19:01 word logos, l o g o s. We're gonna talk about the general word and the specific word, okay? So so stay with me. We'll tighten the bow here in a minute. So it's the19:13 Greek word logos. Jesus said, Keep my logos. The word logos, it means this. It means God's general word in essence. His general mandates, his general19:25 precepts, his general instructions, which the whole Bible is. He's basically saying, look, if you guys will just read the Bible and do it, we'll come to you, make our home with you. We'll have19:37 an interactive dynamic relationship. This would get exciting for you. And every scripture would be in that category, you know, generally speaking. So what does that look like? They'll put a little chart up, a little19:48 drawing up on the screen. Let's talk it through just for a minute. So in real life, here is how this looks. You see there, where it says, at the top right, it says where God wants me to be, mature, conform20:00 to his image, you know, kind of where God's taking us. At the bottom left, you see where I am now, facing decisions, I need direction, I don't know the next steps. You know, just kind of our life today. But where God20:11 wants to take us, you see all those x's is a pathway to get you there. And as we take a hold of his word and do it, each 1 of those x's sort of gets us to that place in God. But20:23 if you notice these little circles to the left and the right, those are distractions. Those are things that just all of us face in life. We have to decide what to do with it. We have to decide what are we going to obey.20:34 So for example, you'll see on the left side of those x's, you see stinginess would be an example of something that would just try to get you to be self absorbed and to not really care about20:46 other people, just be self focused. Us 4 no more. But then you read the Bible and it says, hey, the liberal generous soul is the blessed 1. Those who water others will be watered. And you read that and you go, Lord, I20:57 don't want to be selfish, I don't want to be stingy, I want to be the kind of person that waters others. And so just generally, you begin to do that in your behavior, that changes your behavior. Then you begin to21:09 experience God. Then you see lust. The Bible says to flee fornication, not to live in premarital sex or sex outside of marriage. Well, you have to make21:21 a decision at some point. Am I going to go with God's word and obey him for the blessed life, or am I just going to do what I want to do? Along those same lines you see up there, on the21:33 right hand side, sex outside of marriage. Lust can involve lots of things. Pornography, I mean, there's a lot of things in that arena. Sex outside of marriage, it's a big 1 in our culture. I mean, we live in a culture21:43 nowadays that is just like common place for people to live together and and, you know, do what they wanna do. And and have the attitude, I don't care what the Bible says. This is what I21:55 wanna do. But if you want the blessed life, you've got to care what the Bible says. You know, I think it's interesting, sometimes people feel like, I can just do what I wanna do and I can still expect God's22:07 blessings. And yet they don't expect it, or they do expect it, but they don't experience it. God is not a killjoy. His word isn't given to us to make our life miserable. He22:19 actually has our best interest in mind and you have to believe that at the core. Somehow at the core, you have to believe, God, I don't think you're trying to keep something from me, I think you're trying to get22:29 something to me. And what I really want in a relationship is a heartfelt relationship, a connection with somebody, spirit, soul and body. That's what I really want. And if I just have a connection with somebody22:40 physically and we're living together and there's really no heartfelt commitment and Jesus isn't in the center, what do I have anyways? And so God says, don't do that. That's that's not my highest and best. I've got22:51 something else. Can you just keep my word? Can you just trust me? And all the people said. Couple of other ones here, on this particular 1, you know, I'm depressed.23:04 I get a choice, do I get detoured or do I get to obey God where his word says, rejoice always? I don't feel like rejoicing always. I feel like being depressed right now.23:17 I get to choose, am I going to keep his word? Another 1 there says, anger. You know, people with anger issues. I'm angry and And it's just the work of the flesh And then you read the bible and the bible says, I23:28 will rejoice. I will bless the Lord. I mean, you hear us say it all the time here on Sundays. I don't think people believe us. But I wish you would. We say it all the time. We23:40 say, guys, if you'll just enter into worship, you'll get a breakthrough. If you'll just close your eyes or lift your hands or let your heart engage, if you will just bless the Lord, oh my soul, if you'll just do23:52 it, God will visit you, you'll experience a breakthrough. And yet sometimes people come in and they're angry about something or they're critical about the church or they have whatever their issues are and so they'll just24:02 be like, I'm not doing it. Which is fine, God gives us a free will, but then they don't experience this joy filled adventure24:14 of a Christian life. What are we talking about? We're saying, Jesus said, if you keep my word, what kind of word? His general word. Bad language.24:27 Generally, he says, do not let any unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only such things as are for the building up of others. Well, who knows? That will eliminate most of what we say.24:39 We'll do a lot of this. Right? I mean, if you took that, it's just a general scripture. I mean, listen, when I first became24:51 a Christian, I had quite a little vocabulary. And I remember distinctly there were words God said, We're not going to say those anymore. And I'd be like, but God, I really feel like saying it.25:05 You do not understand. I was like, no, are you going to keep my word? Golly gee, yes I am. Right?25:17 This is practical stuff. It's basic, so basic, but yet this is the kind of stuff that will give you a dynamic Christian life. Addictions, we'll wrap up with this 1 on this subject,25:29 addictions. Know, people got all kinds of addictions. I remember the last smoke ring I blew. I do. Because God began to deal with me about smoking.25:41 He began to deal with me about being filled with his spirit. Don't go after the counterfeit of other addictions, be filled with the spirit. And I remember distinctly, in my dorm room with some other friends, we'd all25:51 become Christians, we got our marble reds out, lit up, smoked a couple. We said, Okay, guys, this is our last 1. Smoked it, blew a26:03 couple of smoked rings, put it out, we're done. I didn't try to quit smoking, I quit smoking. And all the former smokers said26:16 Yeah, the counterfeit to addictions, or addictions are the counterfeit, the opposite is be filled with the spirit, man. Get into the word, obey God's word, live the spirit26:27 filled, adventure filled, faith filled life, and you will be blessed. Alright, so that's general. That'll take us eternity, just to generally obey God's word. But now let's26:39 talk specific, because this is where it gets even more fun. Matthew four:four, Jesus said this, Jesus answered and said, 'It is written, man shall not live by bread alone,26:51 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' Jesus is giving us this here. He says, man's gonna live, but there's something you can live by. Live by every word27:03 that proceeds from God's mouth. Okay, the word word there in that passage is the Greek word rhema. It's a different word for word. Okay? It's the Greek word rhema, which is the name of the bible school we27:15 went to. The word rhema in the Greek means a spoken word, a living word. When God speaks a word to you, you're reading the bible, it's not just general word,27:27 which is great, but you're reading the bible and a scripture pops off the page and speaks to your heart. God speaks to your heart through his word. That's what we call a rhema. A rhema27:39 scripture, a spoken scripture, a living scripture. That's what Jesus is talking about. He says, man doesn't live by bread alone, but man lives by those spoken words, those living words that God27:50 speaks to your heart. And God customizes his word for you in the season you're in with the questions you have, the things you're facing, and he does it in real time.28:02 That makes it an adventure. He does this in real time. And these are the things you live by. So like for example, for pastor Jeff and I, I mean honestly, we would chronicle our life not by dates28:14 on the calendar necessarily. We wouldn't go back to the dates on the calendar. We would chronicle our life by scriptures God has given us to live by. And it just so happened he gave us that28:26 scripture in 19 84. And it just so happens he gave us that passage to live by in 19 86. And it just so happens that 1 was in 19 91. But it's the scriptures28:39 that we live by, not the dates on the calendar. So how does that work in practical living? Let me give you a couple more examples, and there's another little chart we'll put up just so you can see, some categories.28:51 So you see that same, you know, little drawing and it shows, you know, where God wants me to be once again at the top, conform to his image, being mature. The bottom left, you see where I am now. And everybody in this29:02 room, you're facing some decision. You have some questions. You need some direction, some guidance. Whether it's in your marriage, on your job, with your kids, in your finances, singles, maybe it's what school29:14 to go to, maybe it's who to marry. I mean, we all are facing things. And God, this I love this. This is what makes the Christian life fun. God has a word for you to live29:26 by. So, couple of examples. Your calling. It's a category. Your calling. If I were to ask you, hey, what what scripture29:38 or scriptures are you living by concerning your calling in life? You're on the planet and God has a purpose and a destiny for you. What is it? Because his word, like we sang, it's an anchor for29:49 your soul. What is that scripture? What are those scriptures? What are you living by? And if your answer is, I don't know, I'm just living my life. Listen, there's more for you. You don't have to just live your vague29:59 life. God has a specific word for you to live by and it's the very thing that will satisfy the deepest desires of your heart. It's the very thing that will fulfill you the most. You guys30:11 have heard my story many times. I was a dentist or a biology major wanting to be a dentist in college and God interrupted my life with Romans 10 and said, you know, whoever calls on the name30:23 of the Lord shall be saved. How can they call on him and whom they have not heard? How can they hear about him without a preacher? How blessed are the feet of those who preach the good news? I heard that scripture pop30:33 off the page, jumped into my heart. God said to my heart, I interrupt your life to bring you this very important message. You are not gonna be a dentist. You're going to be a preacher.30:46 I have lived by that passage. I make my decisions based on that passage. Later in life, God confirmed that with Colossians 1 29. To be mature is to be30:58 basic. Later on in my life, God confirmed that scripture, that calling with John 21, where Jesus is talking to Peter and he says, Go feed my sheep.31:10 Feed my lambs, teach my sheep. Listen, as a woman in leadership who preaches in a pulpit, this is not common and I get a lot of flack and have for many years, but you know31:22 what my anchor is? My anchor is Jesus gave me a scripture in John 21, he spoke it to my heart. He said, Feed my sheep. So I live by that.31:36 Amen. And there's lots of other verses that go with it, but you get the idea. So what has God spoken to you? What are you living by? And if you don't have 1, then ask the Lord, God, what is my purpose? What is my calling31:48 in life, on the job, in my family? Some other things that he'll do for you when it comes to this living word, you know, this spoken word. Things as it relates to your family, I31:59 mentioned that. Your finances, your job, I mentioned that. I was in a job I did not like. I really didn't like it. I really wanted to be done with it. And I wanted to go to bible school back in the day. And so, but32:11 again, I was like, God, I don't wanna just do what I wanna do. I wanna do what you want me to do. So I began to seek the Lord about what to do and I said, God, I'm in this job. I don't like it. I really wanna move to32:22 Tulsa and go to bible school. What is your will and so on. As I'm reading in my bible 1 day, I'm in Psalm 37, I'm just having my devotions reading the bible. I didn't do this. Let me tell you what I didn't do. I32:34 didn't go, Oh God, I need a word from heaven. Oh Lord, speak. Then King Hezekiah rose early and gathered the rulers of the32:45 city and went up to the house of the Lord. Maybe I'm supposed to call a governor. I didn't do that. I'm in my daily devotions. I'm just spending time with God in his word. And he speaks to me 132:57 day as I'm saying, God, can I please quit this job? Can I please go to bible school now? You would think he would say yes. No, he speaks to me a scripture, dwell in the land and cultivate33:09 faithfulness. I didn't want to do that. But I'm more interested in obeying the Lord because then I know he'll have my back. So I said, okay God, I'll dwell in the33:21 land. I knew he meant staying your job in Lansing and cultivate faithfulness. Well, I'll tell you what, I was the most faithful person you'd ever want to see that year. I got to my job early. I stayed late. I had a great33:32 attitude. I was blessed to be a blessing because I'm gonna pass the faithfulness test. There's no way I'm going to go to bible school and try to preach the word to a bunch of people and I'm not even a faithful person. I33:43 knew God wasn't even going to allow that, so I had to pass that test. A year went by, I said, Lord, now what? I mean, it's been a year, how are we doing? Have we passed? You know, can I go this year? Can I go to Bible33:54 school this year? Well, again, you gotta let God's word be what leads you and guides you. This is what you live by. So I got into the word asking God to speak to me. Over the course of the word, asking God to34:06 speak to me. First Samuel. And as I'm reading first Samuel, I noticed what a great guy he was. I loved his heart. I loved everything about Samuel. So I was praying. I said, God, I want to be like Samuel. He's got a34:18 good heart for you and he serves you, you know. I wanna be like Samuel. And then 1 day, I come upon this verse. It says, Samuel went to Ramah. Seriously, it's in34:30 the bible. It's spelled r a m a h. Spelled a little differently than the school, but it was Rama. I saw that, I said, what? Samuel went to Rama? And I want34:42 to be like Samuel. And I've been praying about that. So I thought, well, Lord, you know, maybe I'm just overdoing it. You know, I mean, that's maybe that's a stretch. Maybe I'm just like wanting the verse to say, you34:52 know, go to Rhema. So I said, Lord, I think it's you. I think you're speaking it to me because it really has quickened in my spirit, but you confirm your word, the Bible says, in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses. Lord,35:03 give me some other verses just to confirm that. So, like I said, a couple weeks is going by and I'm in my devotions and 1 day, I'm Now in the meantime, in the process of this, I've gotten a job offer in Minneapolis.35:16 Dream job creative director for this 1 company, dream job, or I would go to Rhema, but right now I'm dwelling in the land and cultivating faithfulness. So I'm saying, Lord, what should I do? You know? So I get35:28 I hear Samuel went to Rhema, so I'm feeling good about that. And I'm reading in Deuteronomy 1 day and it said, You have dwelled at this mountain long enough. I said, Hallelujah.35:42 And then it went on, it said, Turn and take your journey south. Well, Tulsa's south. Minneapolis is northwest. So it was just another confirmation. And there was35:53 another 1 that came along as well. And boom, now I know from God's word, I can live by that word. Now I know I can go to Bible school whether I got the money or don't have the money. Whether I have a place to live or36:04 don't have a place to live, whether my car breaks down on the way to Tulsa could mean I could care less because I've got God's word that I'm going to live by and he'll have my back. Amen. So36:16 what words are you living by? Alright. Time's just about up. Let me tell you 1 other little deal here. Singles, this is for you. Let me give you your verse, singles.36:29 Isaiah 34 16. I was believing, you know, for an amazing, godly man. Well, actually, at the beginning, I was just believing for somebody that was breathing.36:42 At the beginning, I'm just saying at the beginning. I was just believing for somebody that was tall. Tall, Christian and breathing. Those are my requirements. But God does exceedingly and abundantly above and beyond36:54 all you could ask or think. So, but I'm like, God, you know, I wanna serve you and I really have a desire to be married. I mean, if you want me to stay single, I will, but my heart desire is to be married and so37:06 where is Mr. Wonderful? And so, I'm reading my Bible 1 day and I come upon this verse in Isaiah 3four 16. It says, None shall lack their mate. The mouth of the37:18 Lord has spoken it and his spirit has gathered them. Man, that was a Rhema word to my heart. That was a promise I could take to the bank. I said, God, thank37:30 you. My desire is to be married, so that means he's out there somewhere. And by your spirit, you will gather us together. So, keep reading my Bible and I come upon Jeremiah 337:42 15 1 day reading and it says, and I was praying about my husband. I was praying for him and about him and it said here that God, God spoke to me and said, I will give you pastors37:53 after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. At that time, I had no idea that I would ever marry a pastor. I didn't even want to. It wasn't like, Oh, God, he has to be a pastor. I just knew we38:04 were supposed to serve God. And at that time, Jeff was not a pastor. He was a businessman. But God knows the future, so he gives me this verse about, he's going to give me a pastor38:16 after his heart who will feed me and others with knowledge and understanding. So I'm like, Wow, God, that's amazing. Like, where is he? You know? Hope he's born.38:28 Hope he's not 2. So anyways, so meanwhile, okay, so I'm speaking at a church in Lansing. Now I'm back. This is I had graduated from Bible school.38:40 I was in between first and second year of Bible school. So I was back home in Lansing for the summer. I was preaching at a church 1 summer, Mount Hope Church in Lansing. And pastor David asked me to do the Wednesday38:49 night service, and it was kind of a motivational service, you know, just about, you know, believe God to to reach your potential. And so a friend of ours had invited Jeff to come. Jeff and I went to high school together,Show more In this video 0:00 The Simplicity and Joy of God's WordComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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